68-70 B-body standard cluster question

OK, so I am going through a bunch of boxes and discovering all sorts of parts. I came across two clusters that I have been saving for use in my 68 Road Runner. So these are standard 120 mph clusters. On the back are what I assume are part numbers. The first is 2822873 and the second is 2984500. Questions I have are following: What are the exact applications? Here is the weird part, the cluster 2822873 has this cloth tape that appears to be factory over the two sockets for the turn signals. I have never seen that before. Was this cluster from a car that got fender mounted turn signal indicators so the cluster indicators were blacked out? I've had these clusters for a very long time and never seen this before. Any ideas?

You could be right on the fender-signal deal:
I had a '68 with them, and the cluster bulbs were omitted. St Louis car.
But I have another one, and the cluster bulbs are present. Lynch Rd car.
The cluster signal bulbs tend to fade their lenses over time, and this one is like that.

Part #s would seem to reflect that modification, or just superceded.

Your date codes are a big clue;

310th day of 1967 (1968 model year) & 132nd day of 1969 (1969 model year)

Cool. So it looks like the 68 cluster is from a car with fender mount turn signals.

Really? They did that? Just to save couple of plastic twist in sockets and bulbs?

Oh yeah. Buddy of mine who worked for Chrysler in the '50s & '60s and became one of their contract racers told me Chrysler would pare costs to $.001.
You can see it in the upholstery, the blocks & etc machined to use up out-of-spec parts, cheaper parts as production continued (side markers, etc)...

yeap, but the buyer for the car with lighting package is already paying for everthing the car had without it PLUS the lighting package!!!!

I understand, but that wasn't Chrysler's point of view.
Theirs was "build it as inexpensively as possible".
Understandable when you look at tens or hundreds of thousands, or millions; pennies add up.

Looking in my original from 1968 Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth parts book. Those two part numbers do not appear. It could be that the numbers might be for the 70 bodies, but its the same part. I put a standard 120 mph instrument cluster from a 70 Coronet into a 68 Roadrunner and worked fine. I noticed that part number 2822873 could be a misprint. That 7 could be 9.
The correct one could be 2822893 which is the in the 68 parts book for Dodge and Plymouth b-bodies 120 mph speedometer.
The part number that ends in 500 is not even in the parts book. I have 2 68 to 70 instrument clusters; one of the has a part number like yours and the other has a different number than yours.
The only numbers that are the same are the 65450-1 and 65460-1 just like yours. Maybe those are series numbers.
Don't know why the part numbers would be different for the same part. My point I guess is that that there is more than one part number for this assembly.

Sometimes numbers printed or casted doesn't meet the number on parts books since books are service numbers, what quite ofter are a package of parts which are not be sold alone but just in group, being printed on the box or package.

Sure and I understand why on 69 ALL Mopars didn't get the 4 bulbs, sockets AND related wires on sidemarkers, opposite to what was made on 68. But let's say were sold 1 Million of 68/70 B bodies with standard cluster and EVERYONE got fender/hood turn signals. By the time 2 sockets and bulbs cost ( not the price ) maybe was, what you said.. 1 cent! ( sure it was even less and maybe the cost for a dozen could be 1 cent! ). So wow! They saved $10K. The sale price of maybe 4 or 5 cars if they were cheap Belvederes. But that's just if ALL got the lighting package, were we know it wasn't LOL. MAYBE just 25% of them got the package? That cuts the money saved up to $2.5K LOL.

But then add the price for the tape! LOL.

Whatever, this in an unusefull reply but wanted to laugh at it in public

Well, bud, enjoy yourself.
It's how mass manufacturing is often done.
And it's not one part: if there's 40,000 parts in a car, and they can save a penny on each one, and they make a million, it still adds up.
Yeah, sometimes it seems silly; I'm just trying to explain it.
The word you want would be "useless".

I'll just add that I once had a 69 Coronet 440 Sedan with very low miles 36k and it had the A01 light group and did not have turn signal sockets but were not taped off.I thought it was odd but surmised that maybe since they were on the fenders plain as day that it was redundant on the cluster?